1. Bloodborne

There remains no rush in games as intoxicating as the one that follows the slaying of a difficult boss in FromSoftware's "Souls" series. "Bloodborne" isn't literally a "Souls" game, but its name is the only disqualifier: The storytelling is still cryptic and the specter of instant demise is still everywhere. Further, Hidetaka Miyazaki's latest hastens the die, die again ritual of "Souls" by removing shields and all but requiring you to dodge or parry with perfectly timed gunshots. That and "Bloodborne's" look — Lovecraftian viscera splattered on cobblestone and spiry Gothic corridors — make it a wholly fresh kind of nightmare.